"We are seeking juste, not vengeance"

Pr Mekuria Bulcha

July 30/2012

The purpose of the Oromo struggle is justice. Hate speeches about the OLF and the Oromo people broadcast currently on media networks run by some Amhara elites in the diaspora cannot change that fact. We know, and must make it known, that the OLF is seeking justice for the Oromo people. The OLF exists not to commit injustice against others, including our enemies.

In his famous speech, “I have a dream” delivered on 28 August 1963, Martin Luther King reminded the 200,000 men and women, who participated in the famous March on Washington that “In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred.

We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline.” This is also how the Oromo struggle has been conducted, is being conducted and will be conducted. Seeking vengeance will be committing crime against humanity, and injustice to our people and to future Oromo generations. Vengeance goes against the purpose of our struggle for national liberation. We are not seeking vengeance, but will bring those who committed atrocities against our people before justice.

The aim of our national movement is to establish justice, not to spread war and chaos. That does not mean we will not respond to violence, which others are committing or will commit against our people. It means we will not initiate violence that will affect others. We will always uphold safuu, the traditional ethics of Oromo ancestors, which means respect for life, which in a war situation, is expressed in nagaa (peace) with the uninvolved civilian population, the aged, children and women who happen to find themselves in conflict zones.